1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an end face polishing apparatus for polishing an end face of a rod-like member such as a fiber for optical communication.
2. Description of the Related art
A fiber for optical communication is used by fixedly adhering the fiber into a center hole of a ferrule which is a main member of a connector and polishing an end face of the ferrule and an end face of the fiber simultaneously to be flat and smooth to thereby finish them in mirror faces. When polished faces of the ferrule and the fiber which have been polished to finish are not faces orthogonal to a center axis of the ferrule or there causes a defect on the polished faces, in an optical connector where the ferrules are oppositedly connected, an accuracy in positions thereof opposed to each other is deteriorated and loss is enlarged. Accordingly, the polished face of the ferrule including the optical fiber needs to polish to finish in high accuracy.
There is disclosed a conventional optical fiber end face polishing apparatus in, for example, Japanese unexamined Patent No. 26456/1991. The optical fiber end face polishing apparatus disclosed in the publication, is provided with an eccentric board rotating on a concentric circle of a rotating circular board, the eccentric board is provided with planetary gears for transmitting rotation of a motor for revolution, these gears are coupled to a polishing board to thereby rotate and revolve the polishing board and in the meantime, end faces of a number of optical fibers held by a jig board are pressed to a polishing member fixed to the polishing board to thereby polish them.
Further, in respect of a ferrule, polishing operation of an end face thereof is carried out in a state of being fixed to the jig board and polishing powder or polishing solution (hereinafter, simply referred to as polishing powder) is adhered to a lower face and a side face of the jig board, an end portion of the ferrule and so on. In this case, conventionally, the jig board is turned upside down the ferrule fixedly held at the jig board, while spraying water supplied from a tap of water to predetermined portions, an operator rubs it by holding a cleaning brush or by using a cleaner whereby the end face of the ferrule and the jig board is cleaned.
As described above, according to the conventional optical fiber end face polishing apparatus, the polishing is carried out by pressing the end faces of a number of optical fibers held by the jig board to the polishing member fixed to the rotating and revolving polishing board. In this case, by a long period of use, the polishing member may clog and become unusable to necessitate interchange thereof or interchange with a polishing member having different roughness may be needed. However, according to the conventional polishing member, a polishing sheet is mounted on the polishing board via an elastic sheet and accordingly, operation of interchanging the polishing member is necessarily dependent on manual labor and there poses a problem in which operational efficiency is not excellent.
Further, polishing and cleaning of the ferrule is carried out by manual operation of the operator by using the above-described respectively independent polisher, cleaner and the like. Accordingly, there poses a problem in which mass production performance is deteriorated and the cost is high. Further, when the operator carries out the polishing operation, a more or less variation is caused in respective operation, for example, in setting urging force exerted on the ferrule in polishing operation or the like and there poses a problem in which the quality is not stabilized.
In view of such a situation, it is an object of the invention to provide an end face polishing apparatus achieving promotion of operational performance by automatically interchanging polishing members for polishing an end face of a ferrule, further, to provide an end face polishing and cleaning apparatus for automatically carrying out polishing and cleaning operation.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an end face polishing apparatus characterized in an end face polishing apparatus in which whereas a jig board mounted with a rod-like member is supported by an apparatus main body by a supporting mechanism, a polishing board mounted with a polishing member for polishing the rod-like member is supported by the apparatus main body rotatably and pivotably by a drive mechanism for polishing the rod-like member mounted to the jig board by the supporting mechanism by pressing the rod-like member to the rotating and pivoting polishing board, wherein the polishing member is mounted to the polishing board attachably thereto and detachably therefrom, further comprising an automatic interchanging device for interchanging the polishing member which is mounted to the polishing board and which has been used with the polishing member which is stored at a predetermined position and which is to be used.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to the first aspect, characterized in that the automatic interchanging device comprises a moving member supported horizontally movably at a side of the polishing board, an elevating member elevatably supported by the moving member, a supporting arm in which whereas a base end portion thereof is fixed to the elevating member, a front end portion thereof is extended to above the polishing board and a supporting member attached to the front end portion of the supporting arm and capable of supporting the polishing member from below.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to the second aspect, characterized in that whereas a flange portion is provided at an outer peripheral portion of the polishing member, the supporting member is engaged with the polishing member in a horizontal direction and capable of supporting the flange portion from below.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through the third aspects, characterized in that a number of the polishing members which are to be used are laminated and mounted at a predetermined position.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through the fourth aspects, characterized in that a number of the polishing members which are to be used are laminated and mounted at the predetermined position.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through the fifth aspects, further comprising a plurality of recovering boxes for recovering the polishing members which have been used in accordance with kinds thereof.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through the sixth aspects, characterized in that the supporting mechanism comprises a jig board supporting arm in which whereas a front end portion thereof holds the jig board, a base end portion thereof is supported movably in the up and down direction in a state in which the base end portion is extended to a side thereof and held substantially horizontally and elevating means for supporting the base end portion of the jig board supporting arm elevatably in the up and down direction and lowering the jig board supporting arm such that the rod-like member attached to the jig board is pressed to the polishing member by a predetermined pressure.
According to an eighth aspect of the invention, there is provided an end face polishing and cleaning apparatus characterized in that in the end face polishing apparatus according to the seventh aspect, further comprising a cleaner for cleaning a lower face of the jig board and the rod-like member attached to the jig board at a side of the polishing board, wherein the supporting mechanism comprises jig board moving means for reciprocally moving the jig board from the polishing board to the cleaner by moving the jig board supporting arm in the horizontal direction along with the elevating means.
According to a ninth aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to the eighth aspect, characterized in that the cleaner comprises a cleaning brush for cleaning an end portion of the rod-like member and a lower face portion of the jig board by being rotationally moved in a state in which the cleaning brush is brought into contact with the lower face of the jig board.
According to a tenth aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to any one of the first through the ninth aspects, characterized in that a drive mechanism of the polishing board is revolved while being rotated in a state in which the jig board is mounted.
According to an eleventh aspect of the invention, there is provided the end face polishing apparatus according to the tenth aspect, characterized in that the drive mechanism of the polishing board comprises stop position controlling means for stopping the polishing board at a predetermined position.
According to the invention, in exchanging the polishing members, the automatic interchanging device automatically interchanges the polishing member mounted to the polishing board with the polishing member stored at the predetermined position and promotion of operational performance is achieved.